The present invention relates to consumable components used in a host device, and more particularly to a method of detecting and identifying the consumable components in the host device, such as a printer.
A monochrome or color printing apparatus, which may include printers, copiers, facsimile machines, etc., uses consumable components with a defined useful life and formula characteristics, such as toners and/or ink cartridges, that should be made known automatically to local print process controllers. In recent years there has been an increasing trend toward including some form of identification system on consumable components, especially for printers. The reasons for this trend are to assure that the customer is using compatible consumable components for optimal performance and to help service personnel determine which printer failures were likely caused by the use of non-compatible consumable components. Other reasons include the need to be able to introduce new generations of consumable components recognizable by the printer and to track consumable usage over life such that a "gas gauge" may be used to present the customer with a realistic estimate of remaining life.
The most common previously applied identification methods included the use of write-once and read/write non-volatile electronic memory devices located on the consumable component. These methods add considerable cost to the consumable, require as many as five to six electrical contacts, and normally require special programming at some point in the manufacturing process. Other techniques used include bar code labels, conductive labels and magnetic strips, as well as mechanical codes. Finally various types of electronic identification techniques have been used such as magnetic cards similar to employee electronic badges or memory chips such as EEPROMs. These techniques also tend to be costly due either to the expense of the components added to the consumable or to the cost of the detector or reader in the host device, or tend to have relatively low reliability due to complexity.
What is desired is a method for identifying and detecting consumable components that is simpler, more reliable and less costly than the prior methodologies.